Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Monsters come and go in movies, but great monsters never leave people's imaginations and inspire other designs of movie monsters. Take for example the palm-eyed monster in Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (left). That's a creepy one and a lot of people will agree that it's horrific with an eyeless head, loose pale skin, and palms with eyes that should have been on the face, which this creature doesn't have. This monster apparently inspired the monsters in the new Clash of the Titans (2010).

Here are the monsters (there's a horde of them) in the re-imagining of the 1981 classic, Clash of the Titans. There's another picture on top that shows a palm-eye. There's no mistaking the resemblance to the del Toro monster. It's definitely inspired by the one in Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro has a fascination for creepy eyes. But while the one in the Guillermo del Toro masterpiece looks gaunt and sedentary, these "gourd" creatures in Clash of the Titans are warriors. They're like the orcs in The Lord of the Rings - mean and fearless.

We can only wonder how these monsters are able to see and fight at the same time if they are wielding weapons in both hands. I guess they carry only one weapon at a time. The hair and forehead kind of reminds us of John Lithgow. Another inspiration, perhaps? Just kidding. Anyway, despite the resemblance to the Pan's Labyrinth creature, the "gourd" monsters are still scary and effective in this movie. Clash of the Titans (2010) stars Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Perseus, Alexa Davalos (The Chronicles of Riddick) as Andromeda, and Gemma Arterton (The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) as Io.

This is the toy version of Sam Worthington's Perseus. He looks mean, but at least he's also cute as a vinyl figure with five points of articulation. Click here or on the image to place your order.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

u know that the clash of the titans was inspired by Greek polytheistic mythology that existed centuries before pan's labyrinth. in every picture rendition of the The Graeae sisters (witches in Greek mythology)the trio only had 1 eye witch they held in there hands. i say this to say maybe the idea came from there. maybe pan's labyrinth got its idea from there.